Complex Analysis and Dynamics Seminar
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Fall 2010 Schedule
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Aug 27: Jason Behrstock (Lehman College and Graduate Center of CUNY)
Curve Complex Projections and Teichmuller Space
We will explain a certain natural way to project elements of
the mapping class to simple closed curves on subsurfaces. Generalizing
a coordinate system on hyperbolic space, we will use these projections
to describe a way to parametrize the mapping class group in terms of
these projections; we will also explain a similar parametrization for
Teichmuller space. This point of view is useful in several
applications; time permitting we shall discuss how we have used this
to prove the Rapid Decay property for the mapping class group. This
talk will include joint work with Kleiner, Minksy, and Mosher.
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Sep. 3: Qian Yin (University of Michigan)
Lattes Maps and Combinatorial Expansion
A Lattes map is a rational map that is obtained from a finite quotient
of a conformal torus endomorphism. We characterize Lattes maps by
their combinatorial expansion behavior, and deduce new necessary and
sufficient conditions for a Thurston map to be topologically conjugate
to a Lattes map. In terms of Sullivan's dictionary, this characterization
corresponds to Hamenstadt's entropy rigidity theorem.
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Sep. 10: No meeting
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Sep. 17: Dragomir Saric (Quuens College of CUNY)
Infinitesimal Liouville Currents, Cross-Ratios and Intersection Numbers
Many classical objects on a surface S can be interpreted as cross-ratio functions on the circle at infinity of
the universal covering of S. This includes closed curves considered up to homotopy, metrics of negative
curvature considered up to isotopy and, in the case of interest here, tangent vectors to the Teichmuller space of
complex structures on S. When two cross-ratio functions are sufficiently regular, they have a geometric intersection number,
which generalizes the intersection number of two closed curves. In the case of the cross-ratio functions associated to tangent
vectors to the Teichmuller space, we show that two such cross-ratio functions have
a well-defined geometric intersection number, and that this intersection number is equal to the Weil-Petersson
scalar product of the corresponding vectors. This is joint work with F. Bonahon.
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Sep. 24: Edson de Faria (Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil)
David Homeomorphims and Carleson Boxes
David homeomorphisms are very useful generalizations of quasi-conformal
mappings introduced by G. David in 1988. They were used for the first
time in Complex Dynamics by P. Haissinski to perform parabolic surgery on
rational maps, and later by C. Petersen and S. Zakeri in their study of
quadratic polynomials with Siegel disks.
In this talk we answer a question posed by S. Zakeri some time ago, concerning
the boundary values of such homemorphisms.
We construct a family of examples of increasing homeomorphisms
of the real line whose local quasi-symmetric distortion blows up
almost everywhere, which nevertheless can be realized as the boundary
values of David homeomorphisms of the upper half-plane. The construction
of such David extensions uses Carleson boxes and a Borel-Cantelli argument.
The talk is based on a paper with the same title, to appear in the
Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae.
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Oct. 1: No meeting
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Oct. 8: Igor Rivin (Temple University)
Finding Conformal Maps Between Molecules and Other Stories
We will talk about (and mostly around) the question of figuring
out how close metrics on two surfaces (and often curves) are, and show
that almost every problem (that can be answered, anyhow) reduces to
convex optimization.
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Oct. 15: Patrick Hooper (City College of CUNY)
Symmetry Groups of Translation Surface Covers
A translation surface is a Riemann surface equipped with a holomorphic 1-form.
The group SL(2,R) acts on the moduli space of translation surfaces, and the subgroup
fixing a surface is called the Veech group of the surface. I will discuss Veech
groups of Z-covers of compact translation surfaces. In particular, I will use a
theorem of Thurston (on stretch maps) to show that some of these Veech groups are
of the first kind. I will explain some of the dynamical motivations for studying
this question. This is joint work with Barak Weiss.
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Oct. 22: No meeting (Linda Keen's conference at CUNY)
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Oct. 29: Ege Fujikawa (Chiba University)
The fixed Point Theorem and the Nielsen Realization Problem for Asymptotic Teichmuller Modular Groups
We prove that every finite subgroup of the asymptotic Teichmuller modular group has a
common fixed point in the asymptotic Teichmuller space under a certain geometric
condition of a Riemann surface, and give an asymptotic version of the Nielsen
realization problem.
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Nov. 5: Moon Duchin (University of Michigan)
Lengths of Curves in Flat Metrics
It is a classical fact that the length spectrum is quite rigid in hyperbolic geometry: if
one specifies the lengths of finitely many (well-chosen) curves on a surface S, then
that information determines the hyperbolic metric on S. Suppose one is interested
instead in singular flat metrics on S: the metrics induced by (semi-)translation
structures or by quadratic differentials, which are of crucial importance in Teichmuller theory
and billiards. How rigid is the length spectrum for these metrics? We answer this question
and develop some new tools for studying the geometry of flat metrics. This is joint work with
Christopher Leininger and Kasra Rafi.
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Nov. 12: Linda Keen (Lehman College and Graduate Center of CUNY)
Discrete Groups Outside Teichmuller Spaces
In this talk we will show that there are rigid discrete groups outside certain Teichmuller spaces and that they converge to the boundary in a well-defined manner.
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Nov. 19: Ara Basmajian (Hunter College and Graduate Center of CUNY)
The Orthogonal Spectrum of a Hyperbolic Manifold
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Dec. 3: The seminar will feature two talks:
1:30-2:30: Yunping Jiang (Queens College and Graduate Center of CUNY)
On Bounded Geometry and Characterization of Rational Maps
2:40-3:40: Youngju Kim (Korea Institute for Advanced Study)
Quasiconformal Mappings and Cross Ratio on the Heisenberg Group
The Heisenberg group is identified with the natural boundary of infinity of the Siegel domain model
for the complex hyperbolic plane. It is known that conformal mappings on the Heisenberg group
preserve a cross ratio which is an analogue of the classical cross ratio of complex numbers. We will
discuss how quasiconformal mappings distort the cross ratio on the Heisenberg group. This is a work
in progress.
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Dec. 10: Christian Wolf (City College of CUNY)
Regularity of Topological Pressure: From One to Two Dimensional Complex
Dynamics
In this talk we discuss the thermodynamics of complex Henon maps
which are small perturbations of one-dimensional polynomials. We derive
regularity results of the generalized pressure function in a neighborhood of the
degenerate map (i.e. the polynomial). We then apply these results to show
uniqueness of the measure of maximal dimension as well as discontinuity of
Hausdorff dimension at the boundary of the hyperbolicity locus.
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Dec. 17: Sergiy Merenkov (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Rigidity of Relative Schottky Sets
Let D be a domain contained in the standard n-sphere or the n-dimensional
Euclidean space. A relative Schottky set S in D is a subset of D
whose complement consists of disjoint open (geometric) balls. Relative
Schottky sets are closely related to relative circle domains introduced by
Z.-X. He and O. Schramm in mid 90s. In this talk I will discuss rigidity
results for relative Schottky sets in relation to quasisymmetric (or
quasiconformal) deformations. Some of the main tools used to establish
these rigidity results are adapted from the theory of circle packings.
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